Judge rules using waste as alternative fuel does not make St. Mary's a waste disposal site

CLARINGTON -- St. Mary's Cement is looking into burning waste as an alternative fuel at the Bowmanville plant. The Bowmanville plant is the largest cement manufacturing facility in Canada. January 2013

The fuel will be delivered in enclosed trailers and stored in the existing enclosed fuel mill building. Up to 500 tonnes of fuel could be stored at the plant, enough to make sure that there is enough fuel on Â­hand for long Â­weekends and holidays. The temporary storage building will be kept under slight negative pressure, and the delivery doors will only be opened for truck deliveries. Air from the building will be used to pneumatically feed the kiln so any odours in the air should be destroyed.

- Will there be a traffic impact?

Up to 10 trucks a day would deliver the fuel to the plant, replacing some of the trucks that currently haul conventional fuel to the plant. There could be up to a three-per cent increase in traffic.

- Why does St. Mary's sometimes have a plume coming from the plant?

The plume can be visible when the air from the stack is a very different temperature than the surrounding air -- mostly during the winter when there is no wind. The visible plume is mostly moisture condensing in the air because of the temperature differences, although there is small amounts of particulate matter. The colour of the plume depends of the time of day and the reflection of the sunlight on the plume.

CLARINGTON -- The municipality doesn't get a say in whether St. Mary's Cement burns waste as an alternative fuel at its Bowmanville plant, after a Court of Appeal recently ruled the company isn't proposing a secondary land use and doesn't need Clarington to approve a rezoning.

"A lot of people envision us throwing bags of garbage into the plant and that's not at all the way it is," said Martin Vroegh, corporate environment manager for St. Mary's Cement. "We're still just a cement plant looking at utilizing fuels that would otherwise be thrown away."

The company is proposing using post-recycling and post-composting waste as fuel.

Clarington said that burning waste was a change in land use, making the plant a "waste disposal area" which is not permitted under the bylaw that allows the cement manufacturing plant to operate. A waste disposal area is a site where waste is dumped, destroyed or stored. Clarington argued the waste was destroyed when it was burned as fuel in the cement kiln.

"I didn't know when it magically changed from waste to alternative fuel. The court has cleared that up," said Faye Langmaid, Clarington planner.

The two sides went to court to settle the disagreement. The first judge ruled in favour of Clarington. St. Mary's appealed the decision and the Court of Appeal agreed with the company in a December 2012 decision.

The judge said the company would not be a waste disposal area because burning the waste for fuel would not be considered "destroying" it, just as burning the typical fuel (petroleum coke) for the plant is not considered destroying petroleum coke.

"In both cases, fuel is being used productively as part of the permitted use -- the manufacturing of cement," the judge said in the decision.

The ruling does not open the door for all Clarington industrial facilities to start burning garbage to fuel their plants. Each case would have to go through a similar process to determine whether the change in fuel is a second land use and needs municipal approval.

The alternative fuel project is an environmental initiative that will help St. Mary's reduce its carbon footprint. Using post-recycled and post-compost materials is expected to reduce the plant's greenhouse gas and sulphur emissions.

"Many of these so-called wastes or alternative fuels burn cleaner than the status quo," said Mr. Vroegh. "We are trying to do our part for the environment and find other fuel sources ... If you can substitute a dirty fuel for a clean fuel, shouldn't that be what you do?"

Mr. Vroegh said the alternative fuels was only one project of many that St. Mary's is undertaking to improve sustainability.

Confusing the issue is the controversial Courtice energy-from-waste facility.

"It doesn't make things easier," said Mayor Adrian Foster.

The court decision said the St. Mary's project is different from the incinerator because the waste at St. Mary's is being burned as fuel, not as a means of garbage disposal.

"We're substituting one fuel for another. Not disposing of waste," said Mr. Vroegh. "That (incinerator) facility is designed to eliminate a waste problem and recover energy."

Since the alternative fuel project was first proposed in 2008, a demonstration trial was run at the plant in St. Mary's, Ontario. It has answered many of the questions raised by the project.

"Imagine our fear of the great big mound and our fear is (a mound) of what?" said Mayor Foster.

Clarington staff said the provincial government has also taken a more active role in protecting air quality since 2008, giving projects like this greater oversight and the municipality greater reassurance.

Since the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of St. Mary's, Clarington council has 60 days to decide whether to try to take the issue to the Supreme Court of Canada.

"I have not been instructed to pursue any appeal," said Clarington solicitor Andy Allison, after briefing council in-camera about the recent decision.

For Clarington to get permission to take the debate to the Supreme Court, the issue would have to have national significance.

"Until the deadline for the appeal, we're collecting information. You always want to be cautiously optimistic but you also want to make sure you do the due diligence," said Mayor Foster.

St. Mary's Cement can now continue working with the Ministry of Environment to get approval to run a short-term alternative fuel demonstration at the Bowmanville plant. The Ministry of Environment will have to approve the details of the trial and will be monitoring the emissions results. If the results are good, St. Mary's will begin working to get approval to permanently swap up to 30 per cent of its traditional fuel for alternative fuel.